His white kurta-pyjama hanging on his thin frame, my grandfather adjusted his turban as he entered home. A city like Delhi did not fascinate him. However, his grandchildren living in another place, away from their native village, made him feel responsible for visiting them in between the farming intervals. He did not miss any chance. Whenever he visited, he used to spent many hours on growing vegetables in the lawn behind our home. He would turn every stone to feed his children fresh and self-grown food. If you ask yourself, your parents, and grandparents, how did they get their food at different points in time, everyone will have a different answer. I tell you, as the generations changed, the farming techniques advanced over the period, leading to a different process of farming and unique experience for the farmers and consumers.
As per the reports of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an American farmer could produce food for 19 people worldwide in the 19th century, and today, an American farmer is capable of feeding 155 people worldwide. Similarly, India is the largest importer of pulses in the world today, a country where agriculture is the source of livelihood for 70 per cent of the rural population, with 82 per cent of farmers being small and marginal (FAO, UN).1
Why is it Required?
Primarily, there are a million people who do not have sufficient food available to them, thus, suffer from hunger. At the same time, the agriculture sector, farming, and food production collectively are undergoing various challenges due to the rapid growth of population and the simultaneous increase in food demand. The agri-food sector accounted with the UN Sustainable Development Goal of a ‘world with zero hunger’ by 2030 requires more productive, efficient, sustainable, inclusive, transparent and resilient food systems. (FAO, UN)2 It is significant to mention that natural resources are limited, and their usage is severely controlled. So, in the 21st century, farmers are introduced to new technological tools for agricultural practices with an objective to be the solution for the global agri-food sector.
Bridging Gaps: Fourth Industrial Revolution
Agriculture has been through various revolutions which focuses on increasing the crop yield and providing economic efficiency. Presently, a digital agricultural revolution, as reported by the UN, is going to be the recent developing shift helping agriculture and the needs of the global population come together. Previously, in the western side of the world, the Secretary of Agriculture, America, Claude R. Wickard in 1944 had stated that “I envy you future farmers who have such great things ahead”3 who happened to be a farmer himself. Whereas in other parts of the world, most of the countries were initiating farming and agricultural practices with a focus on alleviating farmer’s economic conditions. Steadily, the gaps started seeing some changes with the advancement in technology in the 21st century. As the World Economic Forum has put, ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ includes digital tools and technology predominating the efficiency and productivity along with improved standard of living.4
Moreover, terms like ‘Digital Agriculture’ and ‘e-Agriculture’ came into existence as part of digital innovations. The technological advancement has started to impact the agricultural process and its productivity. It is essential to examine the technology used in farming as there is a value chain, which enables farmers to improve food production along with procuring consistency and accuracy in external sources like weather, measurements, testimonies, and feedback.
Crop Talk: What Can Technology Do?
In rural areas, literacy and digital skills are lower as compared to urban spaces, which affects the use of digital tools. Another critical factor affecting the use of digitalised agri- food technology is the accessibility to the internet. Rural people primarily use the internet for communication and leisure pursuits. Whereas, in urban areas, the internet is used for advanced services like online marketing, shopping and financial support. The digital cultures have transformed the way a person in a rural area takes advantage of internet services and digital innovations.
Firstly, the government plays an essential role by favouring the technology revolution. The policymakers around the world have shown interest in digital agriculture policies and entrepreneurial culture, such as digital green, online service centres, digital start-ups, setting-up enterprise incubators. Let us talk about Digital Green, a social enterprise in India which is making the farmers expertise digital technology by teaching and advising farming tips with video-playbacks on projectors, youtube, and online database. CNN Business has reported that Digital Green started from a team of three people in 2006, and today, there are more than 150 people connected and working as employees across seven countries, spreading digital knowledge on agriculture.
Secondly, the advent of mobile technologies is facilitating support and information to farmers through call-centres and smartphone applications. For instance, EMA-i is a mobile application innovation by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation, UN) which provides early warning capturing animal health. Similarly, a mobile application, eLocust3, is developed by FAO to monitor desert locust in Africa and Asia. It detects early warnings and provides precise forecasts which impacted the food security and gave space for the farmers to take steps to prevent plague positively. MyCrop and MyAgriGuru are some mobile applications developed by start-ups in India, which helps farmers by providing them information, expert advice on profitability, productivity, and innovative business model. There are countless such applications available all around the world, bestowing the advanced and innovative digital communication to farmers.
Thirdly, AI-enabled tools in agriculture are playing an essential role in improving productivity and precision agriculture. It helps do field-scans and keeps an eye on the production cycle by drones. AI also holds the potential to mask the shift in the weather pattern, change in precipitation, temperature, rainfall level. In China, Alibaba group developed an AI-based program which has features to detect sick and pregnant pigs and hogs. It takes their “facial, temperature and voice recognition to assess each pig’s health”, which is estimating to “save CNY50 billion (US$7.5 billion) if it applied the system to all pig farms nationwide.”5 A giant tech firm, Microsoft, created Pest Risk Prediction API in India using the AI algorithms and machine learning which predicts the pest attacks. It allows a farmer to take preventive measures in advance.
The digital revolution in agriculture is addressing the circumstances, challenges, and through driving technology, impactful innovations are taking place all around the world. The future of farming is breathing a new life, the digital agricultural process that will be developed in the future might interest the coming generations into the profession of farming, who knows, maybe they are enabled to sow seeds and yield crops by sitting inside their home.
References
- “India at a Glance”. FAO, UN, http://www.fao.org/india/fao-in-india/india-at-a-glance/en/
- Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Digital Technologies in Agriculture and Rural Areas. FAO, UN, 2019, http://www.fao.org/3/ca4887en/ca4887en.pdf
- American Historical Association. Shall I Take up Farming? U.S. Government Printing Office, 1945.
- Schwab, Klaus. “The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means, how to respond” World Economic Forum, 2016, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial- revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/
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